Diary of an Arcade Employee

Ivan Reitman’s Cannibal Girls on DVD

A few years ago, I remember looking up the filmography of Eugene Levy and spotting a title that caught my eye, Cannibal Girls. I clicked on it and noticed it was directed by Ivan Reitman and also had SCTV alum Andrea Martin in it, which made me even more interested. I then tried to get a copy of the movie to watch and I was bummed to find zero DVD copies available. Fast forward a few years and I see that this cult canucksploitation film is being released by one of my favorite people, Shout Factory! Wanting to see some of the early works of these folks who would go on to bring me such joy, and also knowing that Shout Factory! would make it a respectable release, I went out and picked it up.

The movie itself ain’t bad. Craziness about cannibals terrorizing a couple is the core of the movie, if you didn’t guess It certainly ain’t good, but it ain’t bad. It is obviously thrown together and low budget and at times borders on the surreal. What I enjoyed mostly about this movie, is that it feels like one of those movies that was thrown together by your buddies during film school, but this one has Eugene Levy and Andrea Marting in it. That for some reason sustained me during the crazier parts of the main production and also inspired me to check out the extra especially the conversation with Ivan Reitman and Daniel Goldberg.

When the movie was released, it had a cute little idea of a warning bell that would sound to tell you when bad stuff was about to happen. This DVD release offers a bonus warning bell track and in addition gives you:

Cannibal Girls is not the best low budget horror film I have ever seen, but it is a great piece of film history when you consider where and what the participants of the film have accomplished afterwards. To fully appreciate it, just make sure you check out those extras.

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One thought on “Ivan Reitman’s Cannibal Girls on DVD”

Atari Adventure Squaresays:

I think I saw this years ago on a bad vhs tape.
Since SCTV was on at the time, this didn’t give comparatively good entertainment and I promptly forgot everything about it except its existence.
Now that it’s out on DVD with extras and thoughts on its conception, I’ll have to check it out.
Gotta say also that Shout Factory has a top-notch approach to releasing its cult material.
Their DVD covers are reversible!
So if one tires of the same old art, or wishes an alternate cover were available (complete with back-cover credits, pics, and all) it’s right there!
Just that fact alone makes me a fan.